The Cult of Non-Procreation — William Murchison

Thursday • May 19, 2005

Syndicated columnist William Murchison argues that procreation lies at the heart of the best case against same-sex marriage. The society must put a premium on procreation to survive, so Murchison reasons that this should be sufficient to privilege and protect marriage as a heterosexual institution. Here’s how he made his case in The Cult of Non-Procreation, first published back in January 2004: “As it happens, a man and a woman go together in a way — blush, blush — that same-sex couples find utterly impossible and always will. There must be a reason, right? Right. No heterosexual relationship, no procreation. No procreation, no human future. That is where the state’s interest in this thing comes in. It comes in also in consideration of the massive evidence supporting the heterosexual family as the most successful setting for training up the products of conception, namely, children. Yes, we know all about the child-beating morons who disgrace marriage. They aren’t even a patch on the loving and hard-working parents who far outnumber them. I can’t imagine anyone who grew up with such parents favoring the undermining of traditional marriage.”

Does this makes sense to you? Evidently, it doesn’t make sense to San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer. This is the judge who ruled California’s law banning same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional. His treatment of the procreation issue is worth a closer look. Judge Kramer argued that homosexual couples could, well, cause procreation. Consider this convoluted argument: “To be precise, same-sex couples can cause procreation. A female capable of producing children can be married to another female and become pregnant through various methods, then produce and raise the child in her same-sex union. Similarly, a same-sex male couple could cause a female to become pregnant, directly or otherwise, and later adopt and raise the child.” Those who would redefine marriage must redefine its functions as well. According to Judge Kramer, all that is important is the ability to cause procreation. The Cult of Non-Procreation speaks.